


In the Ever Falling Dark

by untouchedandalive



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Cunnilingus, F/M, First Time, Hair Braiding, I like a little realism in my sex scenes, Loss of Virginity, Massage, Missing Scene, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Simultaneous Orgasms Not Included
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26449456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/untouchedandalive/pseuds/untouchedandalive
Summary: Elide and Lorcan share a night for themselves. What might have happened when their first time faded to black in Kingdom of Ash."We don't have to do anything further," he said at last, breaking the silence and tucking a few stray strands that had escaped from her braid behind her ear.And she knew there would never be any pressure from him, yet somehow she wasn't quite sated herself, even if Lorcan was content to pleasure her and be done. She had said everything. She wanted to touch him, watch him come undone as she had."I want to."
Relationships: Elide Lochan/Lorcan Salvaterre
Comments: 15
Kudos: 95





	In the Ever Falling Dark

_This is life  
This is all I want from life  
It's the fervor and the tenderness combined_

_'Held in the Arms of Your Words' -Tired Pony_

* * *

_“Show me everything.”_

Elide’s own words echoed in her head.

Her heart, it was beating relentlessly in her chest, her breaths a struggle, like she couldn’t get enough air. She shouldn’t feel this nervous, but she was.

Lorcan was quiet for a few moments after setting her gently down on his cot. Just laying next to her, propped up on one elbow, trailing circles over her arm. She was bare to the waist to him, but his eyes and hands didn't stray. Expectant, she looked at him, and when she leaned forward to meet him in a kiss, she thought it would be desperate. But it was gentle and soft and reverent with slowly building heat. The same as it always was. As it always had been.

He took his time, savored it, as if they had all the time in the world. It was nice to pretend, if just for tonight.

His tongue slipped slowly into her mouth, and she met it. He tasted of apples as he swiped his tongue over her upper lip, drawing her deeper into his mouth and then releasing. More, more, more, she edged closer to him.

He was the one to break away first, just a few inches, his breath ruffling her hair. Resting his forehead over hers, he nudged her affectionately, a small smile on his lips.

“You’re sure?”

A deep breath and with it, years left in the dust. “I’m sure.” 

“I’ll be right back,” he said, twisting off the cot in the blink of an eye, reminding her that he was indeed, demi-fae, even though it was easy to forget. She sat back and twined her fingers over the sheet covering her, wondering what the implications were of bedding someone like that. If it was any different. Aelin and Lysandra had given her some idea but she had nothing to compare it to. 

She watched the rippling lines of his back as he rummaged around in his pack. He really was beautiful. Lorcan found what he was looking for, a small bottle, and then stopped to pull his dark hair back in a leather tie. 

Elide must have made an appreciative noise out loud at the sight because he huffed a small laugh as he noticed her looking.

“You like?”

“I like,” she said, smiling back at him.

Thinking for a moment, she felt her own hair, long and unruly down her back. 

Something softened in his gaze as he watched and then reached in the bag again to find another lacing. He sat on the edge of the cot and leaned over to press a kiss to her shoulder. “May I–?”

She got his meaning and sat up, turning her back to him. His fingers traveled carefully down her hair, combing through and she expected him to simply tie the ends as he had done with his own. But she felt him gather pieces together and begin to weave them together smoothly.

Her chest burned. It was a braid. He was braiding her hair for her. She took a few breaths. 

“You have lovely hair. Like the darkest midnight,” he murmured, twisting the strands gently over each other. Like his, she thought. Just like his.

Elide turned her head just slightly, not waiting to interrupt his work, but wanting to see his face.

“Where did you–?” 

Lorcan shifted his eyes momentarily from his task to meet her eyes, the question there. His voice was soft while he continued. “When I was very young, on the streets of Doranelle, I spent some time in a… brothel. They took pity on some of us, let us come in on cold nights, fed us.” His voice went distant, remembering a time long, long ago. “That’s where I learned. 500 years later and I still can’t braid my own though,” he said, finishing and securing it with the leather. 

She ran her fingers over the plait, woven perfectly. She leaned back, towards him, feeling his breaths skim over her shoulders. Inhale in, exhale out.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "No one's ever done anything for me like that since… since Finnula." She wanted to share a piece of herself, just like he had.

His arms came around her then, easily encircling her hips, his chest warm and solid behind her. He rested his chin on her shoulder, his stubbled cheek scraping softly against hers, and hummed in response. She didn't need to ask, she knew what it meant.

_I'm here now._

"There was something I thought you might like. To relax," he said after a moment, removing one hand and picking up the bottle he had retrieved earlier, placing it in Elide's hand. 

She rotated it in her palm and then opened the stopper, recognizing the warm tropical scent immediately.

"This is the oil you used when you performed at the carnival shows?" she asked, wondering what he had in mind and shivered, the nerves dulling in lieu of quiet anticipation. The smell reminded her of how he had looked throwing his swords, glistening chest and bored expression. When she could only admire from a distance. Now he was mere inches away and it seemed a lifetime ago. 

When he spoke his voice vibrated through her, a direct line to the heat spreading between her legs. "Yes. Just touching, nothing too much."

"Okay," she said, rubbing her face closer to him in imitation of his earlier action. 

"Lie on your stomach," he whispered, retreating from her. Elide complied, a tiny twinge of disappointment striking her that the wait for him, for relief, would be just a little longer. She closed her eyes and felt him shift closer to her.

She awaited the trickle of oil on her back, but instead he poured some into his hand, warming it before beginning the slide of his hands over her shoulders, down her arms, and back again. His touch was light at first, trailing softly. As he moved over the expanse of her back, down her spine, his strokes became firmer, seeking out knots and tension. 

Warmth spread through her, lulled by the press of his fingers over muscle and bone, the scent of the oil intoxicating. Each pass was a calming torture. She found herself muffling a gasp when he reached a sore spot, lingering to soothe it before proceeding on. 

Elide gathered a little courage when he reached her lower back, his knuckles sliding over her.

"You can take off my pants. If you want to touch my legs," she offered, glad her eyes were closed.

Lorcan slowed. "Do you want that, Elide?"

"Yes," she whispered, stretching underneath to undo them, not failing to note the ragged breath he took. She eased them over her rear, leaving her underclothes in place. For now.

There was a rustle and she felt his weight coming off the cot, and then his hands returned, grasping the sides of her pants and pulling them down her legs, first carefully off her injured leg and then the other. Her skin pricked at the air hitting her legs with the promise of his touch to warm them. 

She had hoped he might start at her thighs, close to where she longed for his touch to wander, but Lorcan began at her ankles, the terribly clever and wicked thing that he was. Drawing it out slowly, letting her lose her mind little by little. It was working.

His thumbs circled each ankle, a mirror of the massage earlier, her shattered foot’s skin still tingling pleasantly from the salve he had applied. He moved to her calves, unhurried, working the muscles. His breathing was deep and even, her body boneless and waiting. 

He reached her knees and then hesitated, hands stilling. Elide cocked her head and opened her eyes to see him hovering there, seemingly uncertain. 

“Keep going,” she said, knowing he was waiting for her. A rumble of pleased assent from him and his fingers traveled upward, gentle again, the chaste massage transformed into an exploration of unknown territory. He roamed outwards first in repeating lines back and forth, and she realized her breath was getting shallower and his too. Finally he moved them closer inward and began moving from her knee up her inner thigh. 

She had to restrain her first urge to clench her legs together at the feeling of the small circles he was drawing on her skin, each sweep taking his hand just a bit higher. Closer and closer still he moved until she knew she was slightly shaking from the need to feel him brush against her center. A few strokes away, slowing now, but she was as far from objecting as possible. 

Then he stopped altogether. She nearly let out a groan of frustration at how very close he had been. One look and she saw he seemed a bit dazed himself.

"Ready to turn over?" he asked gently, breaking her from her reverie.

"Yes," she said, breathless. She flipped over, and where at first she had been anxious, now she only felt a delirious calm desire. He was there, she wouldn't stumble or fall, now or ever.

His eyes trained in on hers, arms at his sides. She broke the stare, her eyes moving down to take him in, the sloped planes of his shoulders, the muscled lines of his chest, flat stomach, a sparse trail of dark hair disappearing under his waistband. She bit her lip, wanting every part of him on every part of her.

When she caught his eye again it was like she had given him permission to let his eyes fall lower and look at her in turn, unblinking, eyes slightly widening at the view of her chest.

"Touch me, Lorcan."

His hesitation snapped, his hands finally moving to glide over her shoulders and then down her arms and back up again. This time on the way up he shifted to lay beside her again, his left hand reaching the rise of her breast, gently fitting it to his palm and then brushing his fingers over a raised nipple. Elide arched at the sensation, sighing as he continued the contact, tightening then releasing her. He left his hand in place, tenderly kneading, and brought his mouth to her other breast, laving his tongue around it thoroughly.

She was panting now, her head fuzzy and her center aching for more. She laid her hands over his shoulders, entranced by the way his muscles contracted as he switched his mouth to the other nipple, unrelenting, his right hand now free and tracing a line down her body, down her thigh. It didn't escape her notice that he was flush to her, his hardness pressed against her hip.

She was losing track of time and space, goosebumps forming on her legs as he repeated the familiar circle up and down her inner thigh. She dug her fingers into his skin compulsively and his groan around her nipple vibrated through her like a shiver and she felt his cock twitch against her in response. She smoothed the little marks she had left in apology but at that he slipped his mouth off her, the cool air hardening it even further.

“No, that was – that felt good,” he said, raising his head, his eyes glassy. He blinked a few times, looking up at her, catching his breath while maintaining the slow pattern on her thigh that was inching higher. “You are so beautiful, Elide.”

She bit her lip and nodded and then was staring at his dark head as he kissed down her torso. His fingers reaching closer to her center now, warm over her, the teasing simultaneously awful and wonderful.

Then he was there, his thumbs sliding over her, and this time she did gasp at his slow drag over her damp underwear. Lorcan groaned quietly in response, adjusting his position on the cot. He repeated the motion and she couldn’t help but rock up into his hand, she was on fire and wanted to be burned, again and again. 

He didn't stop, didn't speed up too much, but leaned over to kiss her neck, letting his tongue venture out to taste her for a heartbeat. "Do you like this?" he asked, his breath hot on her nape. Cruel male.

"I think you know how much I like it," Elide ground out, lifting her hips against the next swipe of his fingers over her for emphasis. 

He chuckled, lower toned than usual, almost a growl.

One more pass and she couldn't take the teasing anymore, there was more she wanted. "Take them off."

His hands drifted to the sides on her underclothes, sliding them down at an excruciating pace. He relished this, she thought, the slow building seduction, memorizing every curve and reaction for maximum effect. Once upon a time, when she first met him, she would have assumed he cared only for himself and how quick or hard a fuck could be. 

How wrong one's impressions could be.

Then she was bare and he was sliding his palms up over her hips and back down again, inhaling deeply. Her, he was scenting her, and she might have been embarrassed if not for his ever dilating pupils.

Lorcan moved his gaze back to meet her eyes. "Perfect. You're perfect."

He was beside her again in the next moment, capturing her mouth with his as he mapped the expanse of her body with deft fingers, her fingers curling around his biceps. He pulled her bottom lip into his, biting gently, his tongue dragging over hers at the same time as his fingers at last slid between her legs.

She wasn't sure who reacted first, but her whimper and his moan mixed together in their mouths and reverberated from one to another. He traced her folds, slick and warm, and then their kiss truly did teeter on the edge of control, losing all refinement, just lips and tongues meeting and retreating messily.

They broke apart and Elide tucked her head against his shoulder as he moved his fingers over her, grazing her entrance to capture her wetness to drag up to her clit, sliding around it in lazy circles. Down and back again, each time a slight variation until she was writhing and panting into his neck. She clenched her legs, chasing the feeling looming closer and closer.

On the following pass he positioned his index finger and slid into her gently, eliciting a muffled moan from her. He slowly thrust in and out, slipping easily through her arousal, his thumb rubbing over her clit and drawing forth sharp pants from her. Lorcan made a low noise in his throat, his mouth at Elide's ear. "I want to taste you," he murmured. "Can I?"

She was loathe to have the feeling interrupted but she had wanted his fingers, his tongue for so long she heard herself say yes reflexively. 

He carefully removed his hand, a craving of his lost touch coursing through her before he moved on the cot, lower, and began kissing his way down her.

"Don't worry," he said, interspersing his words between his kisses traveling downwards, "I promise I'll finish you with my fingers whenever you wish." He looked up at her from where he was hovering over her stomach, smiling slyly. Elide raised her eyebrows at him, taking in his defined shoulders flexing and let her head fall back on the pillow, a wave of heat flooding through her.

Lorcan slid his hands to her thighs and she dropped them open for him to sprawl between, trailing his mouth down her leg, closer, closer, until he reached the juncture, and time seemed to hang suspended as she felt his breath on her, a phantom touch over her wet center, his inhale and then low groan. As if overwhelmed by her scent alone.  


He rested his head against her inner thigh a moment, soft stubble tickling her. She scrunched the pillow up under her head to meet his eyes, soft and reverent. Dark eyes but so alive with emotion.  


"Okay?" he asked softly, touching her knee soothingly.

"Okay," she confirmed, and he smiled again, dipping his head down over her, so near, one hand resting lightly over her hip, the other moving to position her leg behind him to rest on his shoulder.

And then his tongue slipped out to find her wet heat, a whisper light touch and then slowly stroking over her, her hips arching up under him, seeking more. He obliged, circling then alternating strokes around her clit, gradually firmer and faster, and she lost all thought, a small tunnel of connectedness between her and Lorcan the only conscious thing remaining.

His tongue traveled lower, pressing at her entrance before moving inside to taste her fully, splaying his hand over her stomach and responding to her escalating soft moans. He brought his hand up to replace his tongue, dipping a finger inside and after a few strokes, a second, her legs falling open wider at the sensation of pleasant fullness. 

He eased in and out of her, incrementally speeding up, his tongue ghosting over her clit in time. It was familiar to the times she had touched herself yet not at all the same, each movement a strange surprise she couldn't anticipate, his mouth something she'd never be able to replicate.  
She was close, a sheen of sweat forming over her, her eyes closed tight. And then she felt his free hand sliding up and finding hers on the bed, tightening his fingers around hers, a simple touch yet somehow more intimate than all his others. It said everything there was between them.

_You're safe.  
I love you._

She reached out, desperate for more contact, wrapping her other hand around his shoulder, and he groaned against her, the vibrations around her pushing her over the edge. Over the precipice she went, flying into a blood rushing darkness as she clenched around him while his hand gripped hers steadily, anchoring her as tears pricked her eyes.

Elide was vaguely aware of him curling next to her while he waited for her to come down, his head nestled in the crook of her arm, breathing deeply. 

"You taste just like you smell," he said quietly into her neck, almost as if to himself.

When she finally had enough control over her shaky limbs to turn and look at him, curious, he chuckled. "Cinnamon and elderberries," he said, squeezing her hand and closing his eyes with a smile, as if to enjoy it further. "Intoxicating."

She laughed, boneless and free and loved. Elide turned on her side to press against him, wrapping her arms around him, his cock hard and straining against her thigh. He just watched her, blinking slowly, pulling the sheet free to drape around their waists for her comfort.

"We don't have to do anything further," he said at last, breaking the silence and tucking a few stray strands that had escaped from her braid behind her ear. 

And she knew there would never be any pressure from him, yet somehow she wasn't quite sated herself, even if Lorcan was content to pleasure her and be done. She had said everything. She wanted to touch him, watch him come undone as she had.

"I want to."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I've been taking a tonic. For prevention."

He stroked her arm, taking a breath, his brow creasing. "I… I know it might hurt. I don't wish to cause you any pain."

She drew closer to his chest, his smell of cedar and woodsmoke the nearest feeling to home she'd known in years. He wanted her to be certain, even with what could be their last days falling upon them, and she loved him all the more for it.

"I'm not afraid, Lorcan. Because it's you. Let it be tonight," she said, as sure of this, of him, as she had been of anything, ever.

He held onto her tighter for a moment, gliding his hand down her back. “Say the word and I’ll stop, I swear it,” he said with quiet intensity, and she was glad he was the kind of male that would feel the need to say so, but it was superfluous, she never had any reason to think otherwise. 

When he released her she swallowed, suddenly nervous. 

"Can I–?" She gestured downward, where he was still pressed, hard through his pants.

Lorcan chuckled. "You can do absolutely anything to me, Elide," he said, low and gravelly, and she wanted to, to touch and taste and have him inside her, under her skin, as close as they could get.

So she moved her hands, first over his chest, smiling as he took a sharp breath when one palm slid over a nipple and then lower, his stomach contracting at her touch. She moved her hand and felt his length through his pants, warm even through the layers, hard but somewhat pliant under her fingers. His breath was coming in short bursts, quicker now, his jaw clenching. 

Her hands moved to his lacings, untying his pants and then he was helping her push them down his hips. She sat back to look at him, flushed and ready. She had nothing to compare it to but it seemed as impressive as the rest of him, and she felt a flare of nerves and arousal both. 

Lorcan kissed her forehead, his hand returning to softly skim her back and it helped her gather the confidence to touch him. She wasn't prepared for the shudder that ran through him when she tentatively took him in her hand, heated smooth hardness, his head dropping against her, and she released him, worried it was wrong somehow.

"That was good," he rasped out quickly into her hair where his head was still buried. "You can touch me again. If you want to."

Elide reached back and held him, fiery heat and silky skin hard in her hand. She stroked him slowly, his hand twitching on her back and breath coming in gasps at her temple. She had never considered whether this would be a turn on but it decidedly was, Lorcan edging closer to completion at her touch.

His tip was glistening, slippery, and she didn't know what it meant or if she was doing it right, although by his sounds he seemed to be enjoying her attention. "Show me how you like it?" she asked, slowing her movements in hesitation. She tucked in closer to his side and his hand moved, covering hers, and she watched and felt his larger calloused hand help guide her, gripping a little more tightly, stroking a bit faster, moving over the head more than she had dared. 

Lorcan pulled his hand away, letting her take over stroking, breathing harder. She was too, want building in her again, brushing her breasts against his side for more stimulation. Shadows were unfurling around them now, the cooling wisps of darkness moving closer as Lorcan did too. 

Boldness took her, and she threw her leg over him so she was straddling him, adjusting her grip on his cock so it was pressed between them. Lorcan’s eyes opened and widened, grasping her hips to steady her. She leaned down to lie over him, bracing herself with her knees on either side of him, relishing the skin to skin contact and how close they were. His arms wrapped around her, holding on to her sweat cooling back.

Taking in a shaky breath, she moved over him, sliding him through her wetness, closer still when he dragged across her clit, causing a tremor within her. Lorcan let out an unintelligible curse under his breath, letting her move as she would, her ankle firmly in place with his magic. She ground over him again and again, a slow burning frenzy growing between them, and it occurred to her that she regretted they had to wait so long for this, but oh, it had been worth it.

Lorcan’s cock slipped over her entrance, so close, and they both froze, his hands stopping in the tracks they had been tracing over her spine. 

“Maybe you should take over,” Elide breathed, not confident in what came next, trusting him to lead her through. A quick incline of his head and he was steadily rolling them over, although she knew he could do it in an instant. 

He held himself over her on his elbows, his thumbs brushing over her cheekbones delicately, and they stared at each other a long moment, something bright and shining in his eyes that she was sure was mirrored in hers. 

One more soft kiss pressed between them, and then he whispered to her. 

“I love you. Always.”

Lorcan began where she had paused before, running his length over her, the intensity quickly peaking again. He reached between them to brush his fingers over her clit, the sensation rising with small noises she couldn’t help making as she held onto his arms fiercely. 

He held himself and grazed against her entrance, slipping over it easily and maddeningly. He met her eyes once more, one last question of consent. She looked at him again, hovering over her, his onyx hair disheveled and shining, his features staggeringly handsome in the lamplight, the broad expanse of tanned skin, his strong body that held such tightly coiled power. Beautiful and hers. Elide nodded.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he pressed into her just a fraction, waiting for her. She gripped him a little closer, and it was very tight, but not excruciating. Right somehow, hard meeting soft. He was watching her, so closely, for any sign, a half worried look on his face.

“It’s alright,” she managed after a few moments. “You can keep going.” 

He bit his lip and pushed just a little further. It burned, the stretching she supposed that was inevitable no matter how much they had prepared. But as he moved, almost less in and out than rocking infinitesimally closer, humming low words into her ear, touching her tenderly, the burning lessened somewhat. 

And so Elide found herself surprised when on the next slight thrust he was flush with her, and it was not exactly good, but on the peripheral of what it could be eventually, the full feeling and nearness of him causing her head to laze back. Lorcan held her close, finally blowing out a long breath from the effort.

She looked at him, running her fingers over his pulled back hair. He looked back, chin on her shoulder, trying not to move.

“Still okay?” he prompted softly.

“Yes. Getting there,” she replied. “You?”

He laughed and it was a funny sensation, him moving and shaking in and around her, nearly slipping out before he stopped himself with a snort. 

“Sorry,” he apologized and she wanted to laugh too, at his chagrin. He turned serious, thumb stroking her forehead. “You feel amazing,” he murmured, his shadows drawing closer and drifting around them comfortingly. 

Maybe it was his words, reassuring her, or how she had begun to enjoy how his skin felt against her, joined together, that let her ignore the discomfort a little more easily. Regardless, she found herself moving her hips experimentally under him, pushing up closer and drawing a groan from him. She did it again. 

Lorcan began to sink into her in earnest, with care but more heat than before. She gripped his biceps and figured out how to move in counterpoint with his strokes, wrapping her legs around him. Each thrust was a little more smooth, drawing short moans from him and quick sighs from her.

She knew what the fuss was all about now, when he gripped her bottom, his breath ghosting over her neck, the pounding of her heart beating in her head continuously. She wanted this moment to extend into forever, to crawl inside him and let him melt into her. She understood how good it was, would be, when the soreness was over tomorrow or the day after that, when they’d do this again, and again. 

Between strokes Lorcan slid one hand between them, finding her sensitive and waiting. He was determined, she could tell, his mouth at her neck, tongue dragging over her collarbone, eager to please as much as possible with his fingers and mouth and cock. And it did all feel good, and she let her mind wander to see if there was finish in the end to her build, but the lingering tightness was too much of a distraction.

As if reading her mind, Lorcan spoke amidst his own ragged breaths. "Can you come again?"

She shook her head, a small smile on her lips, hoping he knew he had permission to let go. He sighed, more disappointed than she was by far, to her amusement. 

"Next time," he promised, still pressing gentle circles into her clit. "And all the times after."

She kissed him then, accepting his vow and urging him forward, his control finally slipping and the darkness enveloping them. He had been holding back it seemed, for it only was a few more thrusts and then he was swirling his hips into her and jerking still, her mouth capturing his drawn out groan as he released into her.

He collapsed to his elbows, catching his breath along with Elide before ever so gently pulling out and laying down beside her. It was a strange feeling of emptiness and relaxation of muscles that she felt simultaneously. Of missing him inside her.

His eyes were dark and glassy, missing all of their normal sharpness. Watching her. She could tell he wanted to ask if she was okay, if it was good, if it was how she thought it would be.

Elide reached out a hand and rubbed it over his cheek and answered the unspoken question. “It was perfect.” And it had been. Tucked under his arm, she burrowed into the warmth and closeness of him as he sighed, in contentment or in relief maybe. His arms wound around her and they stayed there for a few minutes, drowsing together. 

“Still want that bath?” he asked at last, drawing a finger down her back.

And she did, her skin slick but clammy from the cool down of sweat mixing with the remnants of the oil left on her body, remembering Lysandra’s advice about cleaning up, after. She nodded, and he found his discarded pants and shrugged them back on before looping his arms under her and lifting her as if she were weightless, holding her close to his bare chest.

She peered up at him in the candlelight as he made his way to the tub in the corner, dipping a hand in to check the temperature before easing her in feet first and crouching beside her.

It was heavenly, right on the verge of too hot after their exertions, but it felt so good to rinse off clean. Her eyes drifted shut and her neck fell to the edge of the water as he rubbed some of her lavender soap into a sponge and dipped it into the water before running it gently over her limbs.

“You like this, don’t you?” she questioned softly, taking the sponge from him where he had paused, running it under her breasts and between her legs. “Taking care of me?”

Lorcan rested his chin on the edge next to her, trailing his fingers in the water. “Yes,” he said, considering. “I remember what you said, about what love is. That it makes you happy, turns you into the better version of yourself. ” He turned to look at her. “You were right, Elide.”

And then he leaned forward to kiss her once more, open mouthed and gentle.

Elide responded in kind, feeling him smile into her lips. She wanted to feel that with him, always. The intensity and selflessness intertwined, the safety of his arms and his deep laughter against her skin.

She pulled back and his smile widened. She thought he might like all of that, with her, too.

* * *

_In the dark_  
_In the ever falling dark_  
_We are anchorless_  
_Adrift_  
_But barely notice_

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr at untouchedandalive, come say hi!


End file.
